But remember that even the best characters like Daffy and Bugs Bunny suffered of the 'Tude syndrome by their own creators. You should watch some Pink Panther films by example. I hate his 'Tude attitude but the early cartoons at least are pretty good.

>>But remember that even the best characters like Daffy and Bugs Bunny suffered of the 'Tude syndrome by their own creators. You should watch some Pink Panther films by example. I hate his 'Tude attitude but the early cartoons at least are pretty good.>>

I must admit I had never thought about this before John started to talk about it. Well, I had noticed the "perfect teeth" thing that I find kind of annoying in Disney features. I know their male and female leads are supossed to be good looking but I hate those big- perfect-white-smiles. The frog prince in the last feature also suffers of this...

...but he does have some kind of excuse for his tude pose at least. He's an smug character.

I must admit I kinda like smugness in the right context, and I really enjoy the way Chuck Jones drew the smug characters. I think a lot of people liked that and now it's everywhere.

Yeah, maybe Jones actually overdo it a little cause, even though I like the expression, Bugs is a little less likeable in his cartoons as he's in Clampett's. I actually prefer when the loser character had that expression of confidence and then fail. That's pretty funny with Wile E. Coyote.

To me this smugness is a really funny expression in context. And I can kind of see why they would use this face in the posters, cause in a poster it's an easy trick to draw the character looking at the viewer, and smiling.

However 'tude is mroe annoying than smugness and it comes from moder world when they think characters with bad attitude are more appealing, so they just draw them with the full package: the raised eyebrow, the eyelids, the perfect teeth and of course their arms are always in a position that indicates some kind of self-confidence. They usually look a little angry too, much like rappers.

I recently drew this poster with some of my characters for a little exposition I made, and I guess I used some smugness in a couple of them, but I tried to apply a expression that fits with each character personality. At the very least the people who make the posters for animated features should try to do something like that.

Well, the alligator or the firefly in Princess and the Frog are not smug, and I didn't see them with that pose in any poster, so they kind of did it well in that department. Only the frog prince appears in a smug attitude, cause he acts like that in the movie. But Dreamworks can't help but draw everyone with tude. And certainly some characters like Porky Pig shouldn't appear like that on T-shirts.

But remember that even the best characters like Daffy and Bugs Bunny suffered of the 'Tude syndrome by their own creators. You should watch some Pink Panther films by example. I hate his 'Tude attitude but the early cartoons at least are pretty good.

Which is why I don't think the expression in itself should be outlawed.

But it is troubling when it becomes a standard for EVERY contemporary cartoon poster.

They love crappy air brush too. Try and find a cartoon movie poster, or dvd cover that doesn't look like an 8o's Happy Meal box.That's what marketing has brought: small thinking and small artistic expression.

Why the effe would you want to collect something that's everywhere? It's like collecting dirt, almost literally.

There doesn't need to be a holding cell for this trend to act as a reminder of the fact that the industry has been dead a lot longer than it was alive; the mall, the airport, billboards, bus stop benches and the coming attractions in the theatres do a fine enough job.

Hey Kristen, did you want the shirt or did someone buy it for you? I remember thinking that they looked contrived and made me feel embarrassed for the characters. You'd figure our age was the target demographic of those shirts in their heyday.

"However 'tude is mroe annoying than smugness and it comes from moder world when they think characters with bad attitude are more appealing, so they just draw them with the full package: the raised eyebrow, the eyelids, the perfect teeth and of course their arms are always in a position that indicates some kind of self-confidence. They usually look a little angry too, much like rappers."

When i started to see the perverse side of the 'Tude is when the Nestle company changed the cute Quick rabbit for a 'Tude and rapper look. I remember make a complain when i see it the first time and it's damageful for the actual generation who never grow up with appealing and cutest characters. Now and i agree with you, it's everywhere. Even at our own drawings posts unfortunately.

Because when you watch nothing but just 'Tude and edgy stuffs, you'll be for longtime!

I think it comes from the fact that much like literature can't celebrate the human condition in order to be appreciated by hippies, you can't show cartoon characters having fun anymore like you could in the old days since it makes them look like dorks. They have to be all cool and detached like "I just did a frontside 360 to toegrind to method, and it's no big deal."

Also, Lampshade, thanks for that. Now I'll be seeing it everywhere. Sonic and "Tails" are blue and orange (and have 'tude!). So for that matter are the submit and preview buttons at the bottom of this thing.

'Tude aside, I've always hated those blobby airbrush shadows that appeared on everything after Roger Rabbit. If you have to do shadows on characters in cartoons, do them like the last shot in Buckaroo Bugs, or the forest scene in Coal Black.S.

I think the "tude" facial expression is just the by-product of the real problem...the REASON for tude is...what other facial expression are these characters supposed to make?...they're not doing anything or reacting to anything...they're all just standing around looking at teh viewer. if the characters were actually doing something IN character, there would be no need for 'tude because there would be a reason for them to have a soul.

That look is EVERYWHERE and is so lazy. I'll never understand why you would put that expression on a movie poster- isn't the point of such a poster to draw you in? How are you going to do that with a smug, unappealing character looking at you with that smirk?

In real life, when someone looks at you like that, you want to punch them in the face.

One note- that "Where the Wild Things" image isn't the real character design, it's a parody someone put together with the bee face from "Bee Movie" (worst character designs ever)

'tude isn't just a problem in cartoons. It's been a sad part of video gaming since the 90's. The former GI Joe-ish character Radd Spencer became a dreadlock wearing brooding anti hero in the Bionic Commando remake.

All by itself it's what keeps me gunshy about seeing any contemporary animation. Take it away, though, and there'd still be the fact that there are only about five or so other stock expressions that get used, and that would keep me away, too. Seeing one of those just ONCE is enough to ruin everything for me.

bartudeheytudenintentude (you didn't work on this show too did you John?)notoritude (this cartoon was literally about a producer)clerktude (I swear this is a drawing from an "animated" cartoon. It is not a random assortment of lines and blocks of colors)

I also never noticed the 'tude epidemic until I came across this blog last year, and I can't believe it never jumped out at me before. It's amazing. Down to a T. Almost EVERYONE does it. I don't mind it in characters like Sonic the Hedgehog who was, like someone pointed out, a product of that era (and, I believe, pretty much the first popular character of that type). But to superimpose it on every character out there is dumb. However, some characters are meant to be all about 'tude because that's their character in the context of the series. For instance, an earlier post pictured Riley from "The Boondocks" as an example of the 'tude epidemic, but a central element of that series is that the character's stubborn 'tude constantly gets him in trouble, and he never learns the right lesson from his experiences. 'Tude has its place, that particular one serving the purposes of satire.

But...plastering it on the Chipmunks? On Goofy? On Bugs Bunny ALL the time? It's so forced and phony.

Would you look at that! The chipmunk on the right is identical and the one on the left has had his hand changed. Otherwise, the information telling us what the film is about has been removed, and now Alvin looks just as smug as his asshole brothers! Now we can use this as promotional material for the new film.

Well you already have ren tude so here's some stimpy tude Stimpy tude Finding cartoons with tude in it is easy. A more difficult assignment would have been to find a modern day cartoon that doesn't use any!

"tude isn't just a problem in cartoons. It's been a sad part of video gaming since the 90's."

Your so right about that. And a great example I can think of on the top of my head are those generic Sonic designs we have today. All the characters look the same, they just change the color, ears, and nose of the character and that's it. None of them look appealing whats so ever.

WB marketing promoted those gangsta Looney Tunes shirts in the 90's, then backed away after parental criticism. These were the same captains of industy who sold shirts with Daffy and Taz as "Miami Vice" characters in the 80's, chasing every lame trend. All these geniuses really need do is tweak their franchises and make themselves part of the act: Dirty Harry blowing away corporate executives. Bruce Willis buggering CEOs. Batman bloodily ripping the head clean off whoever heads the studio this week. These would sell better than the suits fear. It'll never happen in America because it would cause people to think.

The dangerous thing about this look is that it's so pervasive, it's easy to get lazy and draw it yourself when you don't bother to dream up anything else. Looking back at my work I've certainly been guilty of it. There are definitely situations that call for an arrogant, smirky look, but it shouldn't be used as a default. And like JohnK stated, this "thug life" thing being applied to every character is just disgraceful- it implies that no character has his own personality and the expressions are just interchangeable.

Why would Tweety Bird ever look at you like he's about to pull one over on you?

Well, I think that's a fan art but it's an exact copy of an actual frame of the movie.

On the other hand there are some moments in the same movie where they use the sleepy eyes and it's not 'tude and it's actually pretty funny.

I'm talking about the reaction shots of the other character when the alligator does something dumb.

When he arrives crying "I've found a stick!" and everybody looks at him with sleepy eyes because he was taking them in the wrong direction.

Or when he starts shouting because he had some thistles in his butt and the firefly looks at him like saying "You big sissy".

This kind of sleepy eyes reaction to something moronic always cracks me up in any animated movie or short, even though it's not the most original joke, and I would't count that as 'tude cause those expressions are in context.

I know understand the definition of tude, and i thought it had to do with design. To a certain except I think it is, but Dreamworks and the CGI movies has some of the worst examples of tude. I CAN'T STAND IT!!!! They think that trying to make thier characters look hip to appeal to the kids is just dead wrong.

I notice that most of John K. "cartood" doesn't involve standing there with the side of the toon's mouth hanging open like some haltwit lolligagger.

Why is that so popular? Why are toons going about looking like they "talk out of the corners of their mouth" (considered dishonest and disreputable *no matter who* you ask) or like they had a stroke, or have half lockjaw, or ...

In 2005, i remember finding by a comic-book dictionnary that they having a new Boule & Bill cartoon in production. I remember reading the original comics all of my life and watching the 70's rare cartoons series (I have a collection at my home.), but the final result of this adaptation is a bland 'Tude version of the Roba's work. Here's some screenshots for show you!

John, I didn't know where/how to send you a message. But this blog article looks like as good as any place to pass along an interesting tidbit of info. I came across this online article about kids and parenting, etc. The part I found interesting was about modern mamby-pamby cartoons. I've always felt there has been a profoundly negative aspect to them. The article nails it:

-----

One of the most controversial and potent chapters in the book revolves around "nice" TV, and its potential contribution to the rise in bullying. Interestingly enough, it appears kids are not watching any more TV than a generation ago, but the new trend in programming is towards "prososcial" shows often seen on PBS like Clifford and Caillou or even Sponge Bob. They are supposed to teach our kids how to be 'nice.'

But, it isn't working.

...

Ninety-six percent of all children's programming includes verbal insults, and of the 2,628 put-downs identified, only 50 circumstances featured some sort of reprimand or correction -- and not once in an educational show. "Fully 84 percent of the time there was only laughter or no response at all," found Dr. Cynthia Scheibe.

"The more kids watched, the crueler they'd be to their classmates," Ostorov reported from the Minnesota study. "The correlation was 2.5 times higher than the correlation between violent media and physical aggression. They were increasingly bossy, controlling, and manipulative, and it was stronger than the connection between violent media and physical aggression."

>>If you took that image out of context and didn't know why the character is making that face (like the Lion King or Treasure Planet image) you'd say it was the "tude" face... which it's not.>>

You are somewhat right but not totally. I don't remember the exact moment when Simba makes that expression...but he's certainly being smug as far as I remember and he makes that expression several times during the movie. That whole Hakuna Matata song was about being "cool". So it was in context, but the context was that the character were acting smug and cool. It's not as cheap as the Dreamworks posters but it's at least close to being 'tude.

Ren isn't trying to act cool, he is comunicating to the audience that he's about to do something evil.

The Treasure Planet one is more debatable IMO. Jim Hawkins' character was the prototype of 'tude cause he was your average rebel teenager with skate and all, but he's not the one with the 'tude expression there. I guess the cat-like woman was kind of a feminist, controller character (I don't remember it well,I only watched this boredom of a movie once), but I'm not sure if that counts as 'tude.

Before I read all your 'tude posts, man, I'd never realised just how much 'tude there is everywhere. Or just how annoying it is. The Dreamworks bit (even if a bit hard to read because of the scale) is sadly right. I'll never be able to look at half-open eyes again.

M.gunnerQuist, that's a really scary true point. I was shocked the first time I saw "Kim Possible" - literally everyone on the show but the dorky dad, dorky villain and dorky male sidekick friend was a smarmy, bitchy, smug piece of crap. And we raise our children on this?

Its hard for me to consider these eyesores "treats", but "Eyenot" Petrie was asking about off-center mouths and I beleive its thanks to anime and that when you resort to this you do NOT need an actual fomed mouth, in early Flesicher shorts they used this but now its mostly to make-up for a character having no jaw. Off-center-wise I bet its just easier to draw yet its more flat too, you can just draw the head then mouth with less attention to construction.

I just see the Pink Panther movie poster and i believe that Pink Panther is actually Bugs Bunny in a panther's suit.

Ironically, Warner in the Seven-Arts banner created Cool Cat, a Pink Panther knock-off who talk in a 'Tude style but this cartoons didn't help to bring back the creativity of the 40's Warner cartoons, even some shorts was directed by Robert McKimson.

Mr. Incredible (from THE INCREDIBLES), I can understand more than most, because some superheroes are best known for having an inquisitive smirk/raised eyebrow.

Hell, if you do a James Bond-type character, then that smirk/eyebrow may very well come in handy on the movie poster! (But that movie poster still has to be *good*!) Or even a simple smile like James Coburn's Derek Flint character.

But when *every* animated character is required to have this look, it gets boring, dull, and generic. Artists just aren't creative enough. It's as generic as movie posters with the actors' faces plastered across the whole poster, lacking the spectacle that classic movie posters once had!

It's not about this post, but you might like this: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31195/31195-h/31195-h.htm#FnAnchor_91

Than I was wondering if you could dedicate some posts to the technique of coloring cartoons, is it still done by hand, or it's all computer now? And concerning hand coloring what's the process like? Which are the colors? It would be interesting, at last for me.Thanks a lot for you dedication.Regards Pane

Well, I was going to leave a post here, but it turned into something else about the efficacy of conflict in advertisements since people are more attracted to that sort of thing rather than happy characters or characters who seem too in control, like the cocked eyebrow.

those people who design such stuff DRIVES ME CRAZY!!! I mean Loonatics?! Thats the WORST IDEA EVER! plus they really have to stop it with the CGI characters having confident smirks and having to raise one eyebrow it's getting old!

Actually, the one that Niki lnked to of Catherine Zeta-Jones, which isn't even a cartoon, #5, is "sexy and colol" and I consider it appropriate! GOod point, drawingtherightway, of using Babs, that show was oine of the first, and many following even used the same voice cast [Disney and Nick shows, especially] and only doubled the socalled tude on those.

Awesome blog! Hillarious! My animation teacher stressed this during our lip syncing assignment. It was alittle difficult to get new ways of facial expressions with all of the really bad shit cartoons out there.

Paul, you said the point in a nutshell. This majorly ties in with the voice-acting: Even with voice actors-would YOU wanna watch the Rugrats or these other awful shorts [of course something like Flash Gordon, with Marvin Miller or Scooby-Doo, with Don Messick, couldn't even be saved by those original VOICE actors who started prioir to 1965.. In short, I prefer the oldtime radio era voices. Then again of course, how can you IMPROVE what's too broke to be fixed like Rugrats or Tiny Toon Adfventures [now THERE's a good new motto-trademarked by me.]

Whatever, these are cartoons we're talking about! How about games? Surely some of the first video games I played as I was younger didn't have any "'tude" being thrown at my face as I open some of the disc cases, like Spyro & Crash Bandicoot for example, amirite??

Oh, wait...

Seriously, look at the covers of some of the first 3 three games for both Spyro and Crash. After about those 3, both game developer companies moved on to the PlayStation 2 era to create 'Ratchet & Clank' and 'Jak & Daxter.' Maybe they stopped, let's check NOPE NA UH NOT AT ALL